LIMA, May 4 (Xinhua) -- Three foreign energy companies which have been exploiting fossil fuels in Bolivia will remain in the country, and will not sue Bolivia in international courts, according to reports from Bolivia on Thursday.

    Bolivian Minister of Planning Carlos Villegas gave reporters copies of letters sent by Spanish-Argentine energy company Repsol-YPF, Brazilian state-owned energy company Petroleo Brasileiro (Petrobras) and Transierra, a transport company in which both Repsol-YPF and Petrobras have shares, in which all the three express interest in continuing their work in Bolivia.

    Villegas said Repsol-YPF and Petrobras "are unequivocal in saying they will continue to completely fulfill the terms and conditions of their contract... in other words they will not halt operations."

    Villegas said Repsol-YPF had asked for more information about the nationalization which begins "at the mouth of the well."

    "This is the central knot of the problem. Companies can use 100 percent of their production before. Now they must deliver 100 percent to the state oil company Bolivian State Petroleum Deposits (YPFB)," Villegas said.

    Bolivian President Evo Morales signed a decree on Monday to nationalize the energy industry, ordering companies to deliver 82 percent of their production to YPFB.

    The minister said Morales was visiting the Argentine city of Puerto Iguazu to explain to his Argentine, Venezuelan and Brazilian counterparts how the system will work. Enditem